rushmore

MILWAUKEE (Aug. 19, 2013) –Yesterday, Harley-Davidson unveiled its new lineup of 2014 motorcycle models during the company’s Annual Dealer Meeting in Denver, Colo. The star of the show is not a single bike – rather eight new bikes under the banner Project RUSHMORE, the outcome of a new customer-driven product development effort, which Harley-Davidson implemented to re-engineer the world’s best-selling line of touring motorcycles. The road trip will never be the same.

In the largest scale new model launch in the company’s 110-year history, Project RUSHMORE encompasses eight new motorcycles that feature improved power and braking performance, enhanced rider ergonomics, and dramatic styling updates that completely redefine and fundamentally transform the touring motorcyclist’s experience.

Through the implementation of Project RUSHMORE, Harley-Davidson maintains its leadership in the luxury touring and performance bagger segments with motorcycles that are smart, comfortable, responsive and simply stunning.

A Journey, Led by Riders

“Project RUSHMORE has been touched by thousands of people, most of them being our customers and our employees,” said Scott Habegger, Harley-Davidson Director of Motorcycle Planning. “The voice of the customer is represented not just up front, but throughout the process. In our product development process, we gather input and ideas at formal focus groups, but also at all the events we attend, at our demo rides, sometimes just talking to that rider or passenger sitting on the next stool at a diner. In addition, Harley-Davidson dealers provide valuable input. We then take our ideas and solutions back to customers as prototypes and get more feedback before settling on a final design. With these inputs approved, we are then able to get into production very quickly. We really feel that we are in this together as riders.”

Harley-Davidson listens and responds like never before, and Project RUSHMORE produces thoughtful innovations and technology enhancements that build on the technological foundation that established the company’s dominant leadership in the touring motorcycle segment and collectively transform the Harley-Davidson Touring and Trike motorcycle platforms. Those enhancements slot into four customer-defined categories:

Control: Project RUSHMORE bikes pass faster, stop quicker and see farther at night, thus inspiring rider confidence. Each model features the new Twin-Cooled™ High Output Twin Cam 103™ or the High Output Twin Cam 103™ powertrains – both with fuel injection, Reflex™ Linked Brakes with ABS (Anti-Lock Braking System), and Daymaker™ LED and Dual Halogen lighting.

Infotainment: New color-screen Boom! ™ Box infotainment systems feature the first original-equipment voice recognition and touchscreen for music, GPS navigation and phone in motorcycling, with quality audio, Bluetooth® connectivity, text-to-speech technology, plus support for intercom and CB communications in a single module.

Feel: Aerodynamics and ergonomics come together to improve comfort – from the new Batwing fairing with splitstream venting, which reduces head buffeting by 20 percent, to best-in-class ride for passengers with wider and deeper seats and new back and arm rests.

Style: The form and the function of many components are improved – a larger Tour-Pak® and saddlebags with convenient One-Touch latches, sleeker fenders, lighter cast aluminum wheels and intuitive hand control switches.

Project RUSHMORE recalibrates the expectations of touring for motorcyclists. The above elements of Project RUSHMORE are applied to the following 2014 Harley-Davidson Touring motorcycle models:

Rapid City, S.D. — The organizer of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has accused a Rapid City merchandise vendor of profiting from the event without its permission by selling T-shirts with the word “Sturgis.”

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Inc. says it owns the trademark to “Sturgis” and “Black Hills” when the two terms are used to relate to a motorcycle-related event or service. It sued Rushmore Photo & Gifts in Rapid City for copyright infringement last month.

Rushmore Photo supplies merchandise to vendors who sell at the rally. This year’s event is August 8-14.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court, the rally says it has licensed vendors that have sold millions of dollars’ worth of merchandise. The rally has donated to more than 90 causes and organizations using the royalties, the lawsuit says.